The Greenville Road Warriors jumped out to an early two-goal lead on Saturday, but had to scratch and claw down the stretch for the second straight night to earn a 5-4 shootout victory over the Gwinnett Gladiators.

Anthoni Lucani (2g) and Josh Nicholls (1g, 1a) each produced a multi-point effort, while Dallas Jackson netted the shootout winner.

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With the victory, the Road Warriors continue to sit four points behind Orlando for the final playoff spot in the East Division. The Solar Bears defeated Reading at home on Saturday. Consequently, Greenville can tie Orlando in the standings if the Road Warriors win out and the Solar Bears do not earn another point. Greenville would hold the tie breaker (non-shootout wins) in that situation.

The Road Warriors lit the lamp just 2:37 into the first period when Nicholls beat goaltender Kent Patterson for a 1-0 advantage. From the right wing, Chris McCarthy slipped a pass to Nicholls below the hash marks, where he attempted to dangle around Patterson. Nicholls lost the puck going forehand to backhand, but it slid just past the right leg of Patterson and into the back of the net. It was Nicholls’ 21st goal of the season.

Luciani extended the lead at 8:39 of the opening frame when he netted his team-leading 26th goal of the season. In the closing seconds of a 5-on-3 power play, Nicholls guided a pass to Luciani at the back door for a slam dunk past Patterson’s right side. Nicholls and Jackson recorded the helpers.

Gwinnett answered at 5:24 of the second period courtesy of Zach Sarig’s first professional goal. During even-strength play, Daniel Bahntge helped the puck to the point where Sarig hammered a drive through traffic and past goaltender Jeff Malcolm.

St. Croix regained Greenville’s two-goal advantage at 6:45 of the middle frame with his 13th goal of the season. Justin DaSilva created the attack from the left point with a shot on target that Patterson answered. However, the rebounded dropped to the right post where St. Croix punched it home for a 3-1 score. St. Croix now has 10 points (5g, 5a) in his last eight contests.

The Gladiators stormed back to tie the game in the second period with two goals from Daniel O’Donoghue in a span of 2:26. O’Donoghue notched his first of the contest at 10:34 when capitalized on a feed from Bo Dolan and Keith Albers to make it 3-2.

O’Donoghue’s second tally came on a power play at the 13:00 mark created by a five-minute major against Paul Rodrigues for elbowing. At 12:09, Rodrigues collided with Gwinnett’s Geoff Paukovich in the neutral zone, sending Paukovich immediately to the ice where he stayed for several minutes. Rodrigues was also assessed a game misconduct for the hit. During the ensuing power play, Zach Yuen settled the puck at the point and blasted a shot through traffic that O’Donoghue tipped at the doorstep for the 3-3 deadlock.

Brock Higgs put the Gladiators on top for the first time at 4:33 of the third period with his sixth goal of the season. Bahntge began the rush on the right wing and threw a shot on target that Malcolm deflected away. On the second effort, Tyler Shiplo was denied on a rebound chance from the slot before the puck redirected to Higgs at the left post for a backhand finish.

The pendulum continued to swing at 13:05 of the third period when Luciani scored his second goal of the game to even the contest at 4-4. Andrew Himelson slipped a low pass to Lucani at the back door to set up his 27th goal of the season. Himelson and Saponari each earned a helper, the latter of which moved into sole possession of second place on the Warriors’ all-time single season assists list with 46.

Following a scoreless, five-minute overtime session, St. Croix and Jackson each scored in a five-round shootout, while Malcolm four saves on five attempts. Higgs registered the only shootout tally for Gwinnett.

The Road Warriors finished the game 1-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. Malcolm (17-10-1) made 20 saves in 65 minutes for the victory, while Patterson (9-20-5) stopped 31 shots in the setback.